Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Helmet Leak Forces NASA to Scrub EVA

A leak in the helmet of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, his country's first astronaut to walk in space,
forced NASA to terminate Tuesday's EVA.

The leak in question was a water leak in  Parmitano's helmet that grew progressively worse an hour into the EVA.  The leak was believed to be a tube in Luca's helmet leading to his water pouch, but NASA feels the leak in the helmet was “not readily identifiable.”

Luca initially mentioned the rise in humidity in the helmet, making it difficult to see at times. But as the water was pooing in the back of the helmet, NASA felt it was ok to continue with the mission.  But when he complained of water getting into his eyes, NASA advised Parmitano to  prceed to the airlock as they were terminating the EVA immediately.

According to Universe Today "At one point, there was so much water inside Parmitano’s ears and around his face that he couldn’t hear or speak to communicate with the other astronauts."

Once back inside the ISS, the crew, after removing Parmitano's helmet, reported that he was miserable but suffered no other ill effects.

3 comments:

Dave Tackett said...

That's a reminder of how dangerous space really is. But you know what, I still wouldn't hesitate if I had the chance to go.

kallamis said...

Same here Dave. I am always pointing out how dangerous a job that is when it is relevant in a rundown. And yeah, I'd still climb aboard as well. But not on a Russian anything. It may sound mean, but they seem to have this habit of falling out of the sky.

Beam Me Up said...

same here, it is just that I had not heard of such a weird twist....space you die of radiation or vacuum but water? To weird....